Chicago’s May Day Lesson in Civic Engagement

“Members of the Chicago Teachers Union gather at Union Park in Chicago to participate in the “day of civic action” on May 1, 2026. The kid grabbed me by my shirt. “Mister, help me!” he pleaded. I was in Chicago to see the city’s big May Day protests . The holiday, also known by the Sanders-Mamdani set as International Workers’ Day, was born of Chicago’s 1886 Haymarket bombing . This year, the Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago Public Schools agreed to make May 1 an annual “day of civic engagement,” with CPS transporting students to rallies where they could protest “the treatment of Black, Brown and immigrant communities by federal agents.” Chicago’s civic avatars explained that CPS has a duty “not just to manage schools” but “to actively expand rights, fight for equitable funding, confront injustice, and build a more just and democratic future.” I wanted to see what this just and democratic future looked like up close. I watched buses roll up with legions of Chicago middle schoolers . Now this kid was shouting in my face. “You’ve got to help me, please!” “What’s the problem?” I asked. “I just want to finish my pre-algebra worksheet,” he said miserably. “I’ve got a test in two days. I still don’t really understand the unit, and I actually find math pretty interesting. But my principal said we don’t get to study until we help stop the billionaire-imperialist war on Iran and make Congress defund ICE.” “That seems like a tough assignment,” I said. “Well, maybe he was exaggerating for effect,” the kid allowed. “At the rally, all the speakers were screaming about bombing some crazy farmers’ market way back in the day, and he was getting pretty worked up.” “How can I help?” I asked. “I just wanted to go sit on the bus and study a little bit. But the teachers said no,” he sighed. “Can you maybe boost me up through a window into that bus over there?” At that moment, I saw another student trying to get on the bus, only to be yanked off the first step and frog-marched back into the rally by a sign-toting teacher in a yellow “My Heart Belongs to Hamas” t-shirt. I turned back to the kid and saw a forlorn expression etched into his face. “I’m trapped,” he groaned. “My mom signed the permission slip for this ‘ Day of Civic Action ,’ and my teacher dragged me out here. Meanwhile, my buddy Carlos is out all week because he got hit by a bus. That lucky fool!” A snaking line of teachers bobbed along to a drum circle, waving all manner of signs. One said, “A Woman’s Place Is in the Resistance” with a drawing of a lightsaber-wielding Princess Leia slashing Trump in the neck. Another read, “One less CEO, many more to go,” with a caricature of a buff Luigi Mangione holding a bloody head. I thought it was a lot of decapitation imagery for a middle school field trip. “Well, maybe you’ve learned something out here,” I suggested. “Maybe if my test was to name all the ways Trump is a fascist and ICE is evil,” he said. “But I’m trying to make sure I can take algebra in 9th grade next year. This doesn’t really help with that.” A handful of teachers tried leading students in a chant that sounded like it was supposed to rhyme “South Side” with “genocide” using crackly $8 megaphones from Walmart. But the students were busy taking selfies and posting Instagram stories, so it didn’t really take. I turned my attention back to the poor unfortunate pre-algebra student. “Well, at least you’re learning about history here,” I said. “I mean, the Haymarket Affair really is a big deal. An unknown person threw a bomb at the police while they were breaking up a worker protest. Then there was a shootout, and seven police and several other people were killed. It set the labor movement back decades.” “Wait, that’s what this is all about?” he asked, frowning. “That’s why the grown-ups are all screaming about blowing up cops? This is so cringe. It’s like they think we’re all anti-cop. But my cousin’s a cop. The cops stopped a mugger from hurting my auntie. I’m missing study hall so I can hear Mrs. Smith hyping up a bunch of cop-killers?” “I hear you,” I said. “But I think your teachers just want you to put your civic education into practice. They don’t want you shut away all day just reading the Lincoln-Douglas debates and discussing the Bill of Rights.” Subscribe to Old School with Rick Hess Get the latest from Rick, delivered straight to your inbox. Name Email Subscribe The kid looked perplexed. “Listen,” he said, “I’ve never heard of Link Douglas or this bill of his, but it’s not like we do much reading at school. In social studies, we spent all last week writing emails to Trump telling him to raise taxes on the Coca-Cola brothers.” The loudspeakers erupted as a teachers union official took to the stage. “Hello, my fellow kid-lovers!” she shouted. “During the pandemic, MAGA billionaires wanted to force children into schools when death lurked around every corner! But did we let them?” The crowd cried, “Nooooo!” She continued, “We stood proud and stood tall; we said we’d reopen after Medicare-for-All! And the whole while, our heroic members were crafting learning materials that provided literally minutes and minutes of online learning each day!!” She paused for rapturous applause. “Today, we’re here with a new challenge,” she continued. “King Donald wants helpless subjects. But we want free-thinkers! And we’re producing them. Chicago’s hardworking teachers should take a bow; it’s our hard work that has a full 26 percent of 8th-graders proficient in reading ! And that has more than one-in-five proficient in math !!” There were shouts and cheers. “Now we need to think even bigger,” she warbled. “We’ve got a nation to save from MAGA ignorance. Our students must learn for themselves why they hate Trump, ICE, and Israel and why a just future means loving Hamas, embracing our undocumented guests, and ensuring that meth addicts can get taxpayer-funded dental implants . That’s why we’re here today.” She stepped down to hearty cheers, while Mayor Brandon Johnson urged the assembled crowd to “take it to the streets.” At that moment, a pinch-faced lady in a “Make America Go Away” t-shirt and a threadbare shawl strolled over to us. She grabbed my young friend by the ear and said, “Marcus, there you are! I’ve been looking all over for you. It’s time to go confront injustice.” As they receded into the current of humanity, I could faintly hear over the foot-shuffling and huzzahs of the sign-waving teachers, a plaintive plea from Marcus: “Just let me study math, please!” Frederick Hess is an executive editor of Education Next and the author of the blog “ Old School with Rick Hess .” The post Chicago’s May Day Lesson in Civic Engagement appeared first on Education Next .

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